My midwife gave me Pitocin - without telling me

[crwilson]

I'm not sure where to post this, but I'm angry and want to post it somewhere. I've already posted in a thread on traumatic birth pain about how I couldn't handle my contractions and ended up with an epidural instead of my planned waterbirth (which I've felt very guilty about). When I asked my midwife why my contractions were so overwhelming, she just said that everyone's labor is different.

But, I was just looking through my detailed hospital bill and discovered that I was given Pitocin right after my midwife broke my water...even though I specifically requested that I not be given Pitocin even if it meant I had a longer labor. Partly, I feel like it's my own fault because I did agree to have my water broken. I had been having contractions for 48 hours, I hadn't had any sleep, I was exhausted and just ready to have dd already. When I asked if I would be given Pitocin if she broke my water, my midwife said no.

But I was given it, and my contractions became quickly horrific in every way and I was miserable. I didn't know because I was already on an intermittent IV for Group B Strepp. Apparently, my requests meant nothing. Grrrrr.

[NJ*Doula]

Ask for a copy of your medical records. Some procedures and meds are bundled for billing, so if you're taking this from your hospital bill it's possible that you're being charged for pitocin that you didn't recieve. The billing department might just add a pit charge on efery time a women gets her water broken. Things like this happen all the time with sopital billing. The only way to know for sure is to check your records to see if pitocin was charted.

If you were given pitocin after specifically refusing it, there might be legal recourse. Not that I'm advocating that, just throwing it out there as an option.

[onlyboys]

I agree with the PP.

We were charged for doses of fentanyl my son never got because most of the surgery patients do get it. When I called, they immediately took it off. HTH!